On any private or public golf course certain areas need to be delineated. Some areas requiring delineation include: the playing course bounds; hazards or construction on the course; and, the desired golf cart traffic pattern. On an average eighteen-hole golf course, hundreds of ground markers are needed for the above-mentioned reasons. Groundskeepers must regularly mow the turf immediately adjacent all obstacles, including ground markers, to maintain the aesthetic appearance of the golf course and to prevent lost visibility of the markers due to overgrowth.
The two types of lawn mowers most commonly used on golf courses include commercial reel mowers and commercial rotary mowers. Commercial rotary mowers are similar to residential gas- or electrically-powered push mowers except that commercial rotary mowers typically comprise several adjacently-mounted rotating blades in a single housing to achieve a wider swath. By using a rotary mower the turf is cut by the shear speed of the tip of the rotating blade. Commercial reel mowers typically comprise several adjacently mounted cutting reels which impinge grass on a cutter bar in a manner similar to a pair of scissors.
While each type of mower is better suited for particular areas of the golf course, neither mower can effectively cut the grass immediately adjacent any obstacle such as trees or boundary markers. To properly maintain the grass immediately adjacent immovable obstacles on the course, groundskeepers must use, for example, additional tools such as hand sheers or power grass trimmers. To properly maintain the grass immediately adjacent movable obstacles on the course, such as boundary markers, groundskeepers obviously have the additional option of moving the obstacle and cutting the grass with one of the aforementioned lawn mowers. Thus, maintaining the turf immediately adjacent conventional course markers requires the expenditure of additional labor and machinery, and is very time consuming considering the number of markers on every golf course.